A video conferencing system allows two or more conference participants to conduct conferences by two-way or multi-way video and audio transmissions using conference devices capable of performing multimedia communications. A video conferencing system uses digital compression technologies to compress the video and audio streams in real time and transmit the compressed video and audio streams through a network, such as an integrated services digital network (ISDN) network or an Internet protocol (IP) network. A video conferencing system allows concurrent transmitting and receiving of video and audio streams by any conference device connected to the conference.